Question

Chokwe Selassie, aged 13, is working hard to help drivers avoid potholes(坑洼). The eighth-grader was inspired to kick off his creation on a recent morning, when his mother was driving him to school. Their car was damaged as it went over a huge pothole in the middle of the street in their hometown of Jackson, Mississippi. He decided to do something about the pothole problem in his city. His solution: an app that warns drivers when there is a pothole ahead.

Chokwe developed the app with his friends Rodriguez Ratliff and Emmanuel Brooks. When the app detects a pothole, it is highlighted in red. And if you get close to the pothole, your phone will warn you. Drivers can also use the app to report any potholes they meet, and to look for other routes they can take to avoid roads that have them.

The app relies on current available information about the streets of Jackson. It works by using the city’s 311 call system, and uses information already stored in a database. Through the call system, citizens dial 311 to report non-emergency problems, which include potholes. Chokwe and his friends determined that focusing on the 10 busiest streets in Jackson would give them a large enough sample size to test the prototype（原型）.

Although the app isn't yet available for sale, Chokwe is already looking for ways to improve it. The prototype remains limited to 10 streets in Jackson, but he hopes to add more, so that it includes every street in the city. And then he wants to go even farther until it's nationwide.

1.The passage is mainly about            .

A. a Solution to Traffic Jams    B. an App to Detect Potholes

C. pothole Problems in Big Cities    D. Poor Road Conditions

2.What’s the closest meaning of the underlined phrase “kick off” in Paragraph 1?

A. leave    B. invent

C. begin    D. change

3.How does the app work through the 311 call system?

A. By settling non-emergency problems.

B. By broadcasting traffic accidents.

C. By replying to citizens’ calls.

D. By using its information about potholes.

4.Which can be Chokwe’s future target?

A. Encouraging more kids to create apps.

B. Taking part in more learning programs.

C. Making the app available for sale online.

D. Making the app include streets nationwide.

Answer

1.B

2.C

3.A

4.D

【解析】

本文介绍了一个叫乔科韦的学生使用自己开发的手机应用来帮助司机警惕城市路面坑洼问题，并希望经过改进后将这款应用推向全国。

1.B 主旨大意题。通读全文可知，本文主要介绍了一款可以检测道路坑洼的APP。选B。

2.C 词义猜测题。根据第一段Their car was damaged as it went over a huge pothole in the middle of the street in their hometown of Jackson, Mississippi. He decided to do something about the pothole problem in his city.可知，少年在一词妈妈开车送他到学校的途中，因为路面有一个大坑，致使他们的汽车损坏，从而产生了研发检测路面有坑洼的APP的想法，由此可推知kick off意为“开始”的意思。选C。

3.A 细节理解题。根据第三段The app relies on current available information …，already stored in a database of the city's 311call system, …．Through the call system，citizens dial 311 to report non-emergency problems which include potholes可知这款应用是通过市民拨打311报告非紧急问题来实现的，选A。

4.D 细节理解题。根据最后一段He hopes to add more to it until it spreads all over the country可知Chokwe未来的目标是在全国街道使用这个程序；故选D。